Morocco vs Portugal Prediction | World Cup 2022 ‣ Betiton™

The Round of 16 has given us plenty of goals and drama, and now it is time to more onto the Quarter-Finals where we are sure there will be plenty of quality and drama for football fans all across the world to enjoy. The third Quarter-Final of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will see Morocco take on Portugal for a spot in the Semi-Finals. This match will be played at the Al Thumama Stadium in Doha on the 10th of December at 15:00 GMT. If you are considering placing World Cup 2022 predictions on this big game, then it is time to do yourself a favour and read our Morocco vs Portugal prediction.

Morocco vs Portugal Preview

This Quarter-Final match between Morocco and Portugal will be shown live to British football fans on BBC 1 or ITV 1. At this current moment in time, the schedule has not yet been released, so make sure to take a look at the TV schedule on Friday to see the channel that it will be shown on Saturday afternoon. We suggest that you make sure that you tune into the channel about 30 minutes from kick-off so you can breathe in the amazing atmosphere.

So, how is it exactly that Morocco and Portugal went about booking themselves a spot in the Quarter-Finals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar? Well, below you can find the path that each team had to tread in order to get to the last eight:

Morocco:

• Round of 16: Morocco 0 – Spain 0 after extra-time with Morocco winning 3-0 on penalties

Portugal:

• Round of 16: Portugal 6 – Switzerland 1

🏠 Morocco Form and Team News

Taking some time to have a good look at how both sides have progressed to a certain stage in a big tournament is something that you should make sure that you do when you are planning on doing some football betting. Why do we say this? Well, it is due to the fact that the form a team is in can have a big impact when it comes to who will win the game and progress further in the competition. And this is exactly what we’ll be doing in this section of our Morocco vs Portugal prediction.

Morocco, as can be seen from the first table above, finished at the top of their group with two wins and a draw from their three group games. Morocco were definitely the surprise package of the Group Stage as not many football betting fans would have had the team from North Africa topping a group that contained Belgium and Croatia. Morocco’s first game of the group was against Croatia, and the match ended in a 0-0 draw, although the match was a lot more exciting than many other 0-0 games.

Their second group game was against Belgium, and Morocco knew that a win would go a long way to helping them book themselves a spot in the Round of 16. The North Africans completely outplayed Belgium, and they picked up a fully deserved 2-0 victory to move to four points from a possible six. Their final game of the group was against Canada, and they knew that a point would be enough for them to qualify. They ended up winning the game 2-1 to claim the top spot, while Croatia claimed second place and Belgium were sent home.

For their Round of 16 match against Spain, Morocco started as the underdogs, but after their win against Belgium the Spanish knew that they could not take them too lightly. Morocco’s strength is in their defence, having conceded only once in the Group Stage, and they showed their defensive capabilities once again by keeping a talented Spain side at bay for 120 minutes. They even had a couple of chances to score on the counter, but the Spanish keeper Unai Simon kept his concentration to keep Spain level. The match went to penalties, and many would have put their money on Spain coming out on top, but their penalties were rank (even worse than Japan’s the previous night), and Morocco won 3-0 to send their fans into a dream world.

Morocco manager, Walid Regragui, might have to contend with an injury to Romain Saiss, but apart from this he should have a fully fit squad for this match against Portugal. With regard to suspensions, there is nobody suspended for this Quarter-Final game, but A. Sabiri, S. Amrabat, and R. Saiss have all picked up yellow cards up until now, so if they happen to get booked against Portugal in the Quarter-Final, they will miss the Semi-Final if they manage to make it through.

Morocco Starting Lineup

Before the start of this competition, Morocco did not have many big household names in their team, but it is fair to say that they have done a fair bit to change this over the last couple of weeks. No matter what happens in this match against Portugal, this Moroccan squad has done themselves and their country proud. In the game against Spain, Morocco opted for a 4-3-3 formation and since it worked really well against the Spanish, we would not be surprised if they opted to use the same formation against a talented Portugal team, and that is what our Morocco vs Portugal prediction is predicting will be used.

We also think that Regragui will opt to go with the same XI that started against Spain, unless Saiss’ injury rules him out. Therefore, with this in mind, below is the Moroccan starting XI that we believe will start against Portugal on the 10th of December:

• Bono
• A. Hakimi
• N. Aguerd
• R. Saiss
• N. Mazraoui
• A. Ounahi
• S. Amrabat
• A. Sabiri
• H. Ziyech
• Y. En-Nesyri
• S. Boufal

When it comes to squad depth, it is not unfair to say that Morocco does not have the depth that other remaining teams have in this competition. However, what they do have is a huge desire to work for one another and play as a team, and this is something that can go a long way in competitions such as the FIFA World Cup.

Morocco Players to Watch

Although most of the Moroccan players were not well-known before this competition, they still have a number of talented players in their squad, and below are three Moroccan players to keep an eye on whey they take on Portugal on Saturday afternoon.

• Hakim Ziyech: The Chelsea midfielder has not had the best of times as of late in the English Premier League, but there is no doubt that he is one of the stars of this Morocco squad. When he plays to the best of his ability, he is good enough to cause even the best defenders in the world a host of issues. If the Portuguese defenders give him any space to work with, then he could wreak havoc, and we are looking forward to seeing what damage he can do on Saturday
• Achraf Hakimi: He is just 24 years of age, but he has already spent time playing for Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan, and Real Madrid, and he is now playing in Ligue 1 with Paris Saint-Germain, which gives you an idea as to just how talented he is. The full-back has the strength and speed to snuff out dangerous attacks, and he also has a great attacking ability as can be seen from the fact that he has scored 8 goals for his country. In addition to this, as he showed during his penalty against Spain, he is also calm and collected when under plenty of pressure
• Sofiane BoufalThe 29-year-old was eligible to play for France, but Morocco and their fans will be glad that he opted to represent them instead. He has been one of Morocco’s best players at this 2022 Qatar World Cup, and there might be a number of clubs after his signature when the next transfer window opens. His technical ability allows him to leave defenders in his wake, while he also has an eye for goal when he is given the chance. We are looking forward to seeing how he performs against a strong Portuguese defence at the weekend

☍ Portugal Form and Team News

As you can see from the second table that we gave you above, Portugal, as many football predictions would have predicted, finished at the top of their group, although probably not many saw them losing a game. However, they had already qualified for the Round of 16 by then, so this might have played some part in their defeat.

In their first match of the competition, they played against Ghana in a really entertaining match and they came out on top with a 3-2 win. A late goal from the Ghanaians made it tenser for Portugal than they would have liked, but they managed to hold on and claim three vital points. In their second game of the competition, they played against Uruguay, and a comfortable 2-0 win meant that they booked a spot in the knockout rounds with a game to spare. Thus, they entered their final match against South Korea knowing that a defeat would not be the end of the world. As it goes, they ended up losing 2-1, which was a result that sent South Korea through to face Brazil at the expense of Uruguay.

In their Round of 16 match, they had a potentially tricky tie against Switzerland, but the Swiss just did not show up and Portugal ran away with the match, winning by a 6-1 scoreline. Before the match all of the talk was about how Cristiano Ronaldo had been benched, but his replacement, G. Ramos, who is just 21 years of age, put in a stunning performance to score a hat-trick and make the night all about him instead. In close to 600 minutes of knockout football at a World Cup, Ronaldo has not scored a single goal, while the Benfica youngster now has three, so that is something he can talk about for a while. This was a performance that would have made England and France take not because one of these teams will meet Portugal in the Semi-Finals if they can make it past Morocco.

Fernando Santos, the Portugal manager, does not have any additional injuries to contend with for their Quarter-Final clash, but if any of B. Fernandes, D. Pereira, R. Neves R. Dias, or J. Felix pick up a booking against Morocco, then they will miss a potential Semi-Final clash with either England or France. All of these are big players for Santos, so he will be hoping that they do not pick up a suspension.

Portugal Starting Lineup

The Portugal squad is one that is full of players that are known in houses across Europe since many of their players play in the top leagues such as the Serie A, Bundesliga, and the English Premier League. In their match against the Swiss, Santos went for a 4-3-3 formation which he has been fond of throughout this competition, so we see no reason why he would opt to change formation for this next game. We also think that he will stick to the same starting XI that started against the Swiss, so this is how our Morocco vs Portugal prediction has it that they will line up:

• D. Costa
• D. Dalot
• R. Dias
• Pepe
• R. Guerreiro
• B. Silva
• Otávio
• W. Carvalho
• B. Fernandes
• G. Ramos
• J. Felix

If this starting XI is not getting the job done for Santos, then it is safe to say that he has plenty of talent that he can call upon off the bench. For example, there is R. Leão, J. Cancelo, A. Silva, J. Mário, and C. Ronaldo. Portugal really does have the squad depth that could see them make it to the semi-finals and beyond.

Portugal Players to Watch

It is not easy to give you three key players to watch out for in the Portugal squad because it is a squad that is brimming with talent. Nevertheless, we have tried our best and below we have given you three players for Portugal to look out for when they take on Morocco in their Quarter-Final.

• Bruno Fernandes: The midfielder from Manchester United has the annoying habit of moaning to the officials when things are not going his way, but there is no doubt that he is a really important play for both his club and national team. He is very technically gifted and has a great passing range which helps him to keep things ticking over in the midfield. To add to this, he knows where the back of the net is as well
• Gonçalo Ramos: The 21-year-old started the Round of 16 match against Switzerland ahead of Ronaldo and there was plenty of talk about this before the game, but Ramos scored the first hat-trick of the World Cup to help to justify Santos’ decision to drop his talisman. Ramos looks like a star in the making, and it will be really interesting to see how he copes against a strong and unforgiving Morocco defence
• Cristiano Ronaldo: There is a very good chance that Ronaldo will start this game on the bench after Ramos’ heroics in the last match, but it is very likely that he will get on at one point. When he does, we will be eager to see whether he can break his duck of having never scored a goal in the knockout stages of the World Cup – he has now played close to 600 minutes of World Cup knockout football and is yet to find the back of the net. This is a stat that not many people will believe, but it is true

Morocco vs Portugal Betting Odds

At Betiton, there is something that we love to do, and this is give our punters top WC 2022 betting odds to make use of because we feel that all our customers deserve the chance to get the most that they can from their hard-earned money. No matter that market that you like to place World Cup bets on, our guarantee to you is that you will always be able to find competitive odds for it here. The majority of our football bettors like to put their money on popular markets such as the match winner and the number of goals in a game, so we have given you the odds for both markets in two tables below:

Match Winner

Over/Under 2.5 Goals

Who Will Win? Morocco vs Portugal Prediction

If we were doing our own online sports betting for this Round of 16 clash between Morocco and Portugal, then who would we put our money on to win? Well, Portugal enter this game as the clear favourites to book a spot in the semi-finals, but Morocco have shown throughout the competition that their defence is not one that bows easily. Portugal will have the majority of the ball, we would imagine, but whether they can break down a stubborn Moroccan defence is another thing. If we were doing some World Cup betting on this match and following our own Morocco vs Portugal prediction, we would go for a draw after 90 minutes, and Portugal to find the winner in extra time.

Our Morocco vs Portugal prediction: Draw – Portugal to win in extra-time.

Our Morocco vs Portugal Betting Tips

What other World Cup tips can we give our punters for this match? Well, if you do not want to put your money on Portugal to win after extra-time, then we think you should certainly have a look at the under 2.5 goals betting market because we see this match being a low scoring one due to Morocco’s defensive capabilities. We would be really surprised if there were more than 2 goals in 90 minutes.